My First Computer

Bloggy Mom’s Tuesday Writers Workshop topic for Tuesday was to write about your first experience with computers. I didn’t get the prompt until later in the day after I had already published my blog post for Tuesday. So… pretend it’s Tuesday again and read on…

I never gave computers much thought while in high school. Nobody I knew had one. It was pre-home computers. Hell, it was even pre-work computers. It was never even a topic of discussion. I probably couldn’t have described a computer if you asked. Keep in mind, the time was also pre-cordless phone and pre-cell phone. And I believe that only doctors carried pagers – if even.

When I graduated from high school in 1983 (yes, I am aware that was a very, very long time ago – probably before most of you were born) and prepared to move to Philadelphia to attend college, I first heard about Apple.

Apple was coming out with a new personal computer they were going to call the Macintosh. Cute name. They wanted to get the younger generation to become Mac users and the company made a deal with my college (Drexel University) to sell these first generation computers to every incoming freshman. The computer cost $1,000 (a relative bargain at the time) and we were actually required to make this purchase as part of our acceptance to the college. Okay, great. We would all have brand spankin’ new computers.

When we started school in the fall of ’83, it took a few weeks before the shipment arrived. We all walked down to the Armory to pick up our box. We showed our school ID, they checked that we were who we said we were… and they handed us the boxed up computer to take back to our dorms.

We raced back to our rooms, ripped open the packaging and plugged in the computer. It was a big white box with a tiny screen and a hard disc slit in the front. There was also a really cute little rainbow apple logo.

……… a-hem……

……… ummmm…….

……… sigh……..

Now what? For a generation of 18 year old kids who had never touched a computer in their life before, what were we supposed to do with it exactly?

We asked our professors. They didn’t know.

We asked our parents. They didn’t know.

So it sat. It looked pretty, and professional, and important sitting there on our desks. But it just sat there. It didn’t do anything. It turned on. It turned off. But it didn’t DO anything.

Nobody knew how to use it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… we were all signed up to take “computer” class as part of our freshman curriculum. We had a choice between Fortran or Cobalt . We spent an entire semester learning about punch cards and computer programming… all while a brand new computer was sitting on our dorm room desks gathering dust.

Huge University Fail! You gave us… I mean, required us… to purchase this very expensive piece of equipment and then did nothing to teach us how to use it.

So yes… it wasn’t until the end of my freshman year of school that I actually figured out you could write papers on it. That’s what we did. We wrote our term papers on it. That’s all.

I must say that Mac computer did last me through my 4 years of college and it did come with me when I moved to California after graduation. It turned out to be a fun little computer and I wrote quite a bit on it. It didn’t do anything else, but that was okay. This was pre-internet remember. And then one day it died. Completely died.

Today, I can’t imagine living my life without a computer. My children are growing up with a computer as part of their daily lives. My 6 year old knows how to use one. Where would we be without email and facebook and twitter and blogs? My entire career focus has switched to being online every day. It has become my life. I wish I could have seen the future back in ’83. I could never have guessed that our lives today would revolve around the computer. Amazing. Truly amazing.

Comments

I can so relate to this! I didn't see a computer until I started working. It was a HUGE box with a built-in screen. I think it may have run on Basic (this was the 80's). Now we have 4 computers in the house and I am going to get a new laptop for work. I can't imagine life without one. The geniuses who built computers, figured out the Internet, and built social media all have my admiration.

Had a "Mac Box" as well, but the generation before yours (black and white screen). Did the same thing as you too, wrote term papers. You could always tell who was using a Mac… the font and spacing always looked different from everyone else. Still, it was a fun little machine to go through college with!

Whoa…they had mac's back in 83?? I kid. That's so neat that they required you to get one but didn't teach you how to use them!

I started college in 92 and went to school with a word processor! My roommate had a wp with a monitor. We did the same, used them to write papers. I remember when my friends and I discovered chatting and would go to the computer lab to chat w/ people. First person I ever really talked with? A guy whose handle was Billy Badass. LOL

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Wearer of many hats: Mom, Wife, Writer, Speaker, Campaign Leader, Social Media Manager, Entrepreneur, PFO President. I've been at this blogging thing for 8 years and I'm just hitting my stride. I am the classic stay-at-home-mom who turned her hobby into a career and now I love sharing what I know so you can do what you love and get paid for it. When I'm not online, I'm probably hanging with my teenagers, reading a good book, or eating ice cream in bed while watching Scandal. PR friendly. You can reach me at temysmom (at) gmail (dot) com.